High School With The Koopalings!: A Trilogy
by BoundlessRenegade
Summary: Rival schools set in rival kingdoms - Darklands VS Mushroom Kingdom - equal disaster for a bunch of high school kids just wanting to finish their senior year. Will the Koopalings (and friends!) be able to handle all the stress and competitions? (Third installment of the 'High School With The Koopalings' series - not accepting any more OC's!)
1. Chapter 1: Secrets All Around

**A/N: Happy New Year, and welcome to the third installment of my series, 'High School with the Koopalings'! If you haven't read the previous two (the first one being on my old account, iLoveLarryKoopax3, while the sequel is posted on this account) I'd recommend you do so in order to understand this story. Also I'm super sorry for the delay in posting this, but at least it's going up now.**

 **Now, in this story, we'll be not only focusing on Koopa Troop Academy (for newcomers: a high school in Darklands that the Koopalings attend) but also on their rival school in the Mushroom Kingdom - Mush High! As some of you can guess, or maybe already know, I'll be accepting OC's to be students in Mush High (I'm** _ **not**_ **accepting anymore students for Koopa Troop Academy)! Here's the layout for submitting a character to be a student:**

 **Name:**

 **Physical Appearance:**

 **Personality Traits:**

 **Friends?:**

 **Enemies?:**

 **Hobbies?:**

 **Crush? (Except for Roy, Larry, Ludwig, Lemmy, Morton):**

 **Any areas with a '?' means that it's not necessary to fill out, but would be helpful for me in terms of writing your character! However, the first three areas are required. Also, sorry that the 'crush' options are limited - this story is the third story in the installment, so some relationships are already established or will be established soon. Sorry about that!**

 **I'll also only be accepting the first five characters! Please only submit one character per person. I'm accepting so few because it's a hassle to write about so many characters and write about them well. Thanks for reading! Let's get into the chapter, shall we?**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any Nintendo characters; I only own Lindsay, Abigail, Valentina, Venus, Mush High, Koopa Troop Academy, and the overall plot of this story.**

2018 had finally arrived, and what a relief it was. 2017 had been an eventful year for, really, everyone. Koopa Troop Academy was happy though to return after the holiday break - a new year, a new start. Well… so they thought.

Let's recap. Right before the holiday break, rival schools Koopa Troop Academy and Mush High had a football game to decide which team had the better athletic department after a few years of debate. In the end, Koopa Troop Academy came out victorious (though they didn't quite play fair). It seemed great for them - lots of issues were recently resolved, and the win just topped it all off.

But… how exactly did Mush High take the defeat?

"It's not fair." Valentina sat in her room, brushing through her dark brown wavy hair. Her blue eyes were icy cold, piercing through the dark red bedroom. She wore a simple red sweatshirt along with black leggings and black skater shoes. She had just finished applying her bold makeup before the school day would begin - some mascara and dark red lipstick.

Her twin sister Venus sighed, sitting on the bed. She twirled a piece of her straight, blonde hair around a finger. She wore her usual outfit of a white pleated skirt and a Betty Cooper-esque baby pink sweater with a white collar, along with white heels. "What do you want us to do about it Valentina? I don't know why you're so hung up about that dumb game…"

"It wasn't just a dumb game!" Valentina exploded, whipping her head around to face her sister and their new friend in green - Mimi. "You agree, right? They're a bunch of cheaters and made our school look like a joke."

"Um," Mimi looked between the two sisters, not quite knowing what to say. "I guess? I don't know… I've kinda moved on from obsessing over that school."

Valentina groaned loudly before grabbing her black bookbag. "Whatever. Let's go to school, I'm driving." And with that, the short girl stormed out of the room. Venus sighed once more and looked over at Mimi with worrying eyes.

"Sorry about her."

"It's okay - you've already apologised about her."

"I know." The blonde stood up off of the bed. "I just feel bad, you know? She's so fiery. I don't even know why she's so upset! She was already upset about that traitor Zip, but even _I_ moved on from that. She worries about the little things."

Mimi knew exactly how that felt. The little green shapeshifter was very bitter during her last few months at Koopa Troop Academy - hell, she even wanted to get rid of the Koopalings. Crazy idea. She regretted it, really, she did. She would've stayed but she felt as though she wouldn't be forgiven, and even if she was, things wouldn't be the same.

"You ready to go?" Venus was now at the doorway, looking back at Mimi. Oh well, this was a new start for her. She nodded and followed her new friend out the door.

Mush High was completely different to Koopa Troop Academy. The latter was dreary, dark, gloomy, and kinda unsanitary in places. Gross. Mush High though? It looked exactly how you would imagine a prestigious rich school would look. It had white marble floors and high ceilings, tall, fancy columns, and a bunch of golden chandeliers seemingly everywhere.

"Whoa." Mimi breathed out in awe. She felt like she didn't deserve to be here - it looked so formal, but really, it was just a public high school.

Venus smiled next to her, showing off her pearly teeth. "I know right? My mom put a lot of effort into this." Mimi knew that was true, and wished she could live in a place like this. "Come on, we have to get to our class to begin exam prep."

Lucky for Mimi, she had the same schedule as Venus - home ec., lunch, and then art. Mimi wasn't sure how exams were going to go down, seeing as she just started and they were only a month away, but she tried to assure herself it would be fine.

The two girls entered the large classroom and at the teacher's desk sat none other than Mrs. Toadstool. She smiled at the girls and gestured for them to take a seat. Venus sat front and center whereas Mimi sat a bit farther back. She was surrounded by new faces and felt a bit… insecure and afraid. New feelings for her.

The bell rang loud and clear, signalling the start of class. Peach smiled again at all the students, "Welcome back, everyone! I'm so glad to be back, I hope all of you are happy too. Why don't we go around the room and talk about how our breaks were?"

Mimi silently groaned in her seat - this would be a long day.

The Koopa Troop Academy students felt the exact same way. In the english class, Ms. Nastasia didn't even welcome them back, and hopped right into exam prep. "'K, everyone, for your exams you will be expected to write an essay about a surprise topic."

The students groaned loudly, showing dislike for the essay already. "Uh, whenever we get assigned an essay or really _any assignment ever_ , you always say that they're not just stuff to write overnight, so how are we expected to write one in like two hours?" Larry asked curiously.

Ms. Nastasia just sighed heavily. "I don't make the rules, Larry. You won't have two hours to write one without any kind of preparations though…" She pulled out a ton of thick booklets. "Here are some organizers to help you think about how you'll write your essay. There'll be five topics, you have to be prepared to write all five - of course, you'll only write one, but it'll be random."

Ludwig was ecstatic to start preparations - finally, something interesting for him. He was bored all school year, there was no work that he had to put too much effort in. Of course, he still got all A's on his assignments. To him, it felt like doing third grade work. He just wanted to graduate from this year and begin doing preparations to rule over Darklands.

He sighed, a rare happy grin on his face. To be king seemed like a dream, but Bowser re-made him the heir three years ago. When he was first born, that meant that he was the heir, and that was known for quite a while! Until… that little devil-child came along.

Bowser Jr, his youngest sibling.

Look, it's not that Ludwig didn't love Bowser Jr, he did! Deep down. Deep, deep down. Like, way down in the very bottom of his heart. So far down that nobody can even tell that he loves Junior, not even Ludwig. On the outside, Ludwig really does not like Junior at all.

First of all, Junior's the loudest, most bratty sibling ever - and Ludwig is related to Wendy, so that's saying something. He was spoiled from the moment he was born, but did Bowser care? No. He was the only one to resemble the king himself, so the idiot made Junior the heir.

Ludwig sighed just recalling that memory. That was a dark time, when the king openly favoured Junior over him and his other siblings. He only let Junior come with him to capture Peach and completely ignored the Koopalings. It sucked, but they all got over it. A few years ago, it was like Bowser finally realized that even though the Koopalings were a bunch of brats who didn't even look anything like him, he was still their father and had been unfair.

Weird for Bowser to realize he was in the wrong, but he did, and boy were the Koopalings happy.

That's all besides the point though - the point is, Ludwig was the heir to the throne now and all was right in the world. He couldn't wait to be king, even if it meant sitting through the rest of high school. At least now, finally, he got to do something.

"Ludwig? Were ye listenin' at all, 'cuz I wasn't. What are we s'pposed to be doin'?" O'Chunks whispered from the side and Ludwig groaned - not out loud, of course, he didn't want to be _very_ rude. Sometimes he nearly forgot O'Chunks sat right next to him in this class, and other times he felt as though his brain just blocked out that piece of knowledge - you know, how the brain blocks out some traumatizing events? Yeah, well, Ludwig personally thought sitting beside O'Chunks was very traumatizing.

English class dragged on for all the students but _finally_ lunch came around. The students rushed out of their class and into the cafeteria, the room quickly filling with chatter. Everyone was trying to catch up with each other and talk about how their own winter break went.

One table in particular was exceptionally full, thanks to Lindsay. The people sat there were Lindsay herself along with Amethyst, Wolfe, Abigail, Cheryl, and Gabby - pretty much a bunch of girls in senior year. Lindsay's new year resolution was to get to know everyone better, so she invited a ton of girls to sit with her.

"So, guys, how were your winter breaks?" Lindsay asked the table, a grin on her face. She glanced around the table and Amethyst sighed quite loudly when nobody else spoke up.

"I'll go first," She leaned forward a bit, resting her chin in the palm of her right hand. "Well, let's see… uh, I spent a bunch of it sleeping." Gabby snickered next to her and Amethyst elbowed her lightly. "What? Look, I need my sleep! Geez… what else did I do?"

"You helped me and my grandfather deal with some ghosts." Gabby said nonchalantly and Amethyst gasped.

"Oh yeah! I did that aaand that's pretty much it."

"So…" Wolfe raised one eyebrow at her. "You slept, and were a ghostbuster?"

"Yup."

"Sweet." Wolfe grinned and Amethyst grinned back before Lindsay asked Wolfe what she did over the break. "Oh, right. Well I actually mainly read some novels, and - oh! I started writing one of my own!" The table cheered a bit for her, causing her to blush a bit in embarrassment. "I really want to be a writer when I graduate. I haven't gotten around to writing much of the novel, but it's coming along!"

A couple tables over, a group of guys sat and watched the girls with sharp eyes. Roy huffed loudly and put his drink down on the table. "You wouldn't think things would change so much after one stupid holiday break, but now it's like we can't even associate with the girls."

The others at the table - Mark, Lemmy, Ludwig, Larry, William - rolled their eyes at him and his dramaticness. "You're really over exaggerating here, Roy. We can still talk to them, Lindsay just wanted to bond with the girls a bit more and catch up." Ludwig muttered, reading some kind of novel.

"'Lindsay just wanted to bond with the girls'," Roy mocked his elder sibling in a high pitched, squeaky voice. "Whatever. From _my_ point of view, I tried to sit with my loving girlfriend who then shoved me out of the seat onto the floor and said it was girl's only."

Mark couldn't hold back a laugh, and neither could Lemmy. Eventually, the others began to laugh too - well, all of them except Roy himself. Larry had to wipe away some tears from laughing too hard just imagining that scene. "Man, I hope someone recorded that."

"They did!" William cackled as he checked his phone. "Oh wow, it's _all over_ Twitter!" The group laughed even harder as they watched the video while Roy sighed.

"Screw you guys."

"Lighten up, dude." Mark lightly nudged him with a joking smile.

"Yeah! It's just an embarrassing video of you getting pushed on the floor, it probably won't even go viral." Lemmy tried to reassure him with a grin until Roy narrowed his eyes at him.

"Actually, people already made it into a meme." Larry tried not to laugh as he scrolled through all the jokes on his own phone.

Roy lowered his head onto the lunch table in shame and embarrassment, wishing that there was another holiday break coming up soon. "When's spring break?"

Meanwhile, Wendy was actually in the library studying for her upcoming exams because she was a good student.

Okay, fine, that was a complete lie. What was Wendy actually doing? Digging for information on Mush High. Why? She was jealous, plain and simple.

Why would someone want to transfer over there? Okay, yes, she did see a ton of cute guys and girls, but is that why Mimi transferred over there? It seemed ridiculous to her that Mimi would go over there simply because she didn't think she could fit in here. Clearly she could, she had before.

You'd think Wendy would be a bit more upset with her for attempting to burn her house down, but not really. Mario was way more cruel to her family so she was kinda used to it. She sighed heavily as she sat herself in a corner, flipping through a ton of yearbooks.

"What are you doing?"

"Gah!" Wendy shrieked, getting shushed by a ton of people around her. "Sorry, sorry." She turned in her seat to see Zip Toad next to her, a worried expression on his face, nearly being covered by his long, blonde hair. "Why does it concern you?"

"It doesn't, I just… wanted to know."

Suspicious. Wendy narrowed her blue eyes at him, while he narrowed his eyes at the yearbook she was looking at - one from three years ago. "Wendy, oh grambi- please put that book away."

"Huh?" She looked back at the book - Mush High Yearbook, 2014-2015. What's so special about this one? "Why?"

"Just, please."

"You have a secret, don't you?" Wendy grinned evilly and watched Zip's face fall. Bullseye, right on the mark. "Aha! I knew it, you totally have some deep dark secret in here. But, why in here..?"

Zip gulped nervously - he was an idiot, why did he intervene? Now Wendy was going to know for sure that he used to go to Mush High…

"You probably hid something in here, stuffed in between pages, didn't you?" She flipped through the pages. "I mean, why else would you be so concerned with me looking through a yearbook of Mush-"

She stopped herself on a certain page and Zip grimaced. He looked away, he couldn't bear to see it. "Zip? Why are you in here?" He looked away and she began cackling, earning some glares from nearby students. "Oh my grambi - you used to go to-" Zip put a hand over her mouth so she wouldn't be able to continue her sentence.

"Shhh! Geez, you _know_ I have a reputation, keep your voice down!" He moved his hand away and sighed, his sunglasses hiding his worried eyes. "Look, I can explain everything later. Lunch is almost over so I don't have time now, just please, Wendy, don't tell anyone."

Wendy pursed her lips together, thinking for a moment. Finally though she sighed and nodded. "Fine, fine, I won't tell anyone. But you owe me an explanation!"

"Whatever." Zip rolled his eyes and left the library. He was silently kicking himself - could he really trust Wendy O. Koopa with his biggest secret?

Another person who shared their biggest secret with someone was Doopliss - he didn't really do it on an accident like Zip. Back before the winter break, Doopliss confessed to Vivian that he was the one who set the Koopa's house on fire. Unlike Wendy, Vivian knew not to tell anyone, and she hadn't. The two actually grew closer due to that, and they were currently having lunch together in the corner of the cafeteria.

Doopliss was still a bit hung up on Mimi, even though they were now clearly broken up. He didn't even mean to fall that hard for her, he was a cool guy, he wasn't supposed to have a soft spot for a girl - at least, that's what he heard, but Vivian told him that that wasn't true at all and that apparently girls appreciate it when guys have a soft spot for them.

Speaking of Vivian, she couldn't help but develop a crush on the duplighost himself. She hadn't known him personally for very long, and it's not like he was a _great_ person but… she couldn't help it. She got butterflies in her stomach whenever she was close to him and he seemed to act a bit nicer to her than to most girls. Maybe that was a sign, or maybe she was reading too much into it - she really didn't know.

Actually, Vivian didn't know very much about romance at all. She thought that it was all about being nice to people which is why she thought she had a crush on Ludwig. He was nice to her, they even slow danced together at homecoming, but she never felt any different for him than she did for any of her friends.

With Doopliss though, he wasn't even very nice to her. Well, he wasn't mean to her or anything, he just wasn't a super nice guy. So with that in mind, she had no idea why she had fallen for him. She finally knew that this was a real crush - she felt differently for him than her other friends - but she just couldn't wrap her head around _why_ she liked him.

Maybe she could talk to Lindsay about it? Vivian looked across the cafeteria to see Ludwig gazing at Lindsay. She sighed and knew it'd be better to deal with her own love issues herself, Lindsay had enough on her plate. Well, most people didn't really know about it - honestly, she wondered if Lindsay even knew about it. It was obvious to Vivian at least that both Ludwig and Lindsay were fond of each other, though both have denied it. Vivian noticed the little hints though and put the puzzle pieces together. She wasn't an idiot.

"You good, slick?" Doopliss asked her once he noticed that she had been a little too quiet. Yes, Vivian was always a bit shy, but this lunch period she was completely silent. He was concerned for her.

She raised her head up and blushed a bit, not expecting him to notice her silence. "Oh! Yeah! Um, just thinking."

"About?" He turned a bit more to face her and Vivian grimaced. What could she tell him? 'Oh you know, just thinking about how I have a crush on you and don't even know why because you're kind of a bad person'? Yeah… no.

"Oh, y'know…" She looked back down at her lunch tray, looking at a rather burnt, bitter looking piece of meat, which kind of resembled... "My sister."

"Beldam? Or Marilyn?" Doopliss asked her and she was shocked to know that he knew who her sisters were. Then again, who wouldn't? Beldam was probably one of the cruelest students at this damn school.

"Beldam, actually." Now that she thought about it, her sister had been a bit too quiet recently.

Doopliss leaned his chin on one of his hands, "What about her? Ya still talk to her?"

"Well, yeah, she's my sister."

"Well duh." He chuckled a bit and Vivian noted that his laugh was kinda dorky, consisting of a bunch of 'yuk's. "I just know that she was kinda rude to you in the beginning of the year and then feuded a bit with… you know."

She remembered - Mimi had actually stuck up for her against Beldam, which caused a ton of tension between the two. Why was Mimi so nice then? Vivian didn't understand. She sighed, a bit of pink hair falling onto her face. "I know, but it's not like I can just ignore Beldam for the rest of my life. I'm just thinking about how she's been kind of quiet lately."

The two looked across the room to see Beldam chatting happily - for once - with Marilyn. Doopliss chuckled once more, "I think you're just overthinking things, slick. As long as she's not causing problems for you, she's fine in my book." He then stood up, "Class's gonna start soon, want me to walk you to yours?"

With a quick nod and small smile, the two headed out of the cafeteria, the warning bell ringing from above, signalling class was starting soon.

Before gym class started, Iggy noticed a familiar black-haired koopa in the halls. "Cheryl!" He called out, his usual big grin on his face. She turned around in confusion until she noticed who was calling her, and then she smiled back at him. "Oh, hey Iggy."

"Wanna walk together to gym class?"

"Sure." She smiled once more and he returned it, though he felt a bit awkward.

"Um… we're cool, right?" He asked nervously, and she looked up at him in confusion.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Cheryl asked, and Iggy thought back to before the winter break. He had somewhat friendzoned Cheryl even though he liked her, and worried that things were awkward between them. Cheryl seemed to understand why he asked that now. "Oh, don't worry about it, it's okay Iggy." She smiled at him and he felt his heart flutter.

He mentally scolded himself, he had told her they were just friends! He felt like he needed to move on but… he looked at her and noticed how nice her hair looked, and how bright her green eyes were, and... ' _Damn it._ ' He thought to himself.

Look, it's not that he didn't _want_ to have a crush on Cheryl - believe me, he did. He just felt now as though he'd be giving her mixed signals. Plus, he assumed she had already moved on from him. He had to change the subject. "So… how'd you spend your winter break?"

"Oh, it was pretty relaxing actually," She stared ahead of them, a smile on her face. "I spent most of it playing piano."

"You play piano?" This was news to Iggy - he had no idea she could play piano!

"Yeah. I also sing a bit." She was a bit shy to admit it, but it was what she loved, and Iggy could tell.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I haven't told anyone, really." Cheryl looked down at her feet, growing more and more shy. "It's kind of a hidden passion of mine, I guess."

"Okaaay, well, you know that you're gonna have to perform a song or two for me sometime, right?" He smiled down at her and her face went bright red.

"Uh, sure! If you'd really like to hear one…"

"I would!"

They finally arrived at the gym, Coach Daisy beaming and ready to go. Some students were already getting all warmed up - probably Daisy's orders. The bell signalling the start of class rang and within minutes, everyone was sitting on the bleachers, waiting for Daisy's orders.

"Welcome back everyone!" She smiled, clearly in quite a good mood. Like… a way better mood than usual. "I never got the chance to congratulate those of you who won the football game before the break!" That explained it.

The students cheered and Daisy tried her best to quiet them down. "Okay, okay! Gotta say, love the school spirit, but you lot are quite rowdy today. Anyways, listen, we should probably discuss your upcoming exam for this class."

"We have an exam in _gym?_ " William asked in disbelief and Daisy nodded.

"Well duh! Jeez, just because it's gym class doesn't mean you won't have an exam." She crossed her arms and looked at the students who now had frowns on their faces.

Wendy raised her hand, trying to be polite, "Um, what exactly will the exam be? I don't assume it'll be a written one, right?"

Daisy sighed and pressed her fingers to her forehead as if she was getting a headache from these students, which actually might have been true. "Yes, Wendy, we'll have a written exam. Which will follow a bunch of physical exams, such as the beep test."

"NOOO!" Francis cried out, his voice cracking. "Please, anything but the beep test!"

Daisy sighed once again. "Look, I know, nobody likes the beep test, but it's mandatory!"

"What the hell's the beep test?" Roy asked Francis, who was sat to his right.

"Ugh…" Francis shuddered at the thought of it. "Basically, you have to run back and forth between two lines, like from one end of the gym to the other, as long as it's 20 metres apart. You have to do it within a certain time limit, which begins and ends with loud beeps. And to make matters worse, the time limit gets shorter, so eventually you're running 20 metres non-stop, and quickly."

"Pfft, that doesn't sound bad." Roy laughed, and Francis gulped.

"Just wait 'til we actually get to doing it…"

"Anyways!" Daisy interrupted them. "That's how your exam season will be in this class - we'll do physical exams, such as the beep test, and then we'll have a written exam which'll be about a bunch of sports and what the rules are."

The class sighed heavily - they actually thought that they wouldn't have an exam in this class. How wrong they were. They hoped that the drama class had to deal with an exam too…

"Oh my, welcome back everyone!" Madame Flurrie stood front and center in the drama room, greeting all of the students. "Now, did everyone have a good break? Yes, no? Oh well. That doesn't really matter!" She laughed a bit to herself while the class awkwardly watched. "Ahem, anyways… I suppose we should discuss your exam for this class, hm?"

The class watched as she walked - er, _floated_ \- to the chalkboard at the back of the room. She talked to herself a bit as she wrote on it, but nobody could actually make out any words that she was saying. Madame Flurrie was quite a character…

"Aha!" She moved aside to reveal a… sign-up sheet? "For your exam, you'll have the task of performing solo. You'll all get the same scene to perform so it'll be fair."

"Uh, what scene exactly will this be?" Wolfe asked her and Madame Flurrie grinned wildly.

"None other than a scene from my very own original play!"

The students were silent until Lemmy started laughing under his breath, which of course caused Mark to laugh too. Then everyone around them started laughing until eventually the whole class was howling with laughter. Poor Flurrie was standing with her arms crossed and her face red with embarrassment. "What is so funny here?! My play did very well, mind you!"

Angrily, she grabbed a stack of papers from her desk and began handing them out to all the students. It was the script for the scene, and at the very top read ' _FLURRIE'S FABULOUS CHANCE_ '. "This play is all about myself, and my trip to stardom!"

"Oh great, I've always wanted to act as a dramatic retired actress." Larry muttered to Wolfe, who snickered at his sarcastic remark.

Flurrie narrowed her eyes at the two but ignored them. "Take the time to read the script. Memorize it, live it, breathe it! This will be the focus of our classes for the next month."

Everyone rolled their eyes, wishing that the final bell would ring already. The class seemed to drag on but eventually, the bell did end up ringing after what felt like years. The students scrambled out, except for Mark, who ended up having to go back to his locker for some textbooks. And of course, who other than Lemmy comes up to him? "Hey Mark!"

The boomerang bro nearly jumped in surprise before relaxing when he saw it was just Lemmy. "Oh, hey Lem. Excited about that play in drama?" He asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Lemmy laughed a bit in his high pitched voice before nervously clearing it. "Um, no, actually I came here to ask if you…" He trailed off, getting more nervous. Mark looked down at him in confusion. "I-If you. Uh."

"Lem? You good, dude?"

"Yeah! I'm suuuper! Just, uh..." Lemmy was at a loss for words - he had just simply wanted to ask if Mark wanted to go check out a circus over the weekend, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. "I gotta go!"

He ran away, agile as ever. Mark felt a bit sad, knowing Lemmy wanted to ask him something important. He shut his locker and decided that he would try to talk to him about it tomorrow - he saw Lemmy everyday, so it's not like the small koopa could avoid him.

The day ended for everyone and everyone was already exhausted. First day back and everyone was stressed about exams. Or, in the case of Zip T, he was stressed over Wendy telling everyone that he used to go to Mush High. He didn't trust that bratty koopa very much, so he figured he'd better text her about it now.

' _Hey Wendy - u alone? I can tell u about mush high now._ '

Within minutes, he got a text back from her. ' _Yep - so spill it, toad. Spill the tea, or whatever you wanna call it. I wanna know why you switched schools, and how Mush High was._ '

Spill the tea? Zip had no idea what that even meant - he wasn't caught up in recent slang. Oh well, all he knew was that it was gonna be a long evening explaining everything.

 **A/N: And that ends the chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed it - please submit some characters to be in Mush High! I'm only accepting the first five. Also, just FYI, I'm thinking of making the chapters split in two - focusing on Mush High, and then on Koopa Troop Academy. Should I do that, or should I dedicate a whole chapter to one school and then have the next chapter be dedicated to the second school? Let me know, thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2: Exam Season

**A/N: WOW OKAY it's been uhhh quite some time. Roughly… a year… oops. First off - I can't even** _ **describe**_ **my disappearance, quite truthfully. Lack of motivation? My own personal issues? The list could go on and on, and frankly, I don't think anyone wants to hear it :,)**

 **BUT - FINALLY - here is the very long awaited chapter two. So, let me just say - there is practically nothing about Mush High in this chapter, but don't worry - we'll get to it! I wanted to wrap up semester one at Koopa Troop Academy before diving into new characters, plotlines and everything in between at Mush High. Of course, there are new plotlines in KTA as well, but don't worry - they all connect in the end.**

 **OH ALSO! If I were to make a discord server for this story, so I could actually keep in touch with a ton of people invested in this story and hear everyone's ideas all in one place, would anyone be down for that? Let me know! (If you don't know what discord is, it's kinda like skype I guess - a server on there is, from what I can tell, one huge group chat) If I do end up making one, I'll be sure to put it at the top of my profile and in this story's description! I honestly think it'd be a great idea, I always get a lot of suggestions from various reviewers, so how convenient would it be for everyone to talk about it in one place? Let me know your thoughts on that! And without further ado, let's get into the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any Nintendo characters; I only own Lindsay, Abigail, Valentina, Venus, Mush High, Koopa Troop Academy, and the overall plot of this story.**

Exam season had finally approached - and boy, was it a mess. Koopa Troop Academy, for the next two days, would be in chaos.

You see, exam season is only for two days - one day for each period. Each day is only a few hours, completely dedicated to that exam. They took place on January 21 and 22 - a Monday and Tuesday, allowing the students the rest of the week off before the second semester.

Well, the current day was January 21 - 7:30 a.m., to be exact. Exam day one, early morning. The cafeteria had breakfast set up for students so they wouldn't take their exams on empty stomachs. Some had gotten there early in order to have little study sessions before their 8:30 a.m. exams.

One group was studying for english - these were the students who actually cared about their grades, the ones who wanted to ace this exam. The group consisted of Ludwig, Lindsay, Morton, Iggy, Wolfe, and Cheryl.

Scattered around the table were various coffee cups (empty, of course), granola bar wrappers, and of course, the actual work. Study notes, books, worksheets - you name it, it was there somewhere. The group had gotten there as soon as the school opened at 6 a.m.

Wolfe groaned loudly, placing her head down on the table, right on top of her binder. " _Uuuugggghhhh_ … I'm so tired."

Iggy pat her reassuringly on the back, sighing himself. "It'll all be worth it, guys… we're gonna," He took a quick break to yawn. "Gonna ace this exam."

Seeing as yawns are contagious, Lindsay let out a soft yawn too, covering her mouth with one hand. She couldn't help but stretch afterwards, and Ludwig followed suit. "I should go get some more coffee… does anyone want a cup?" He asked the group.

It should have been an obvious answer - everyone raised a hand, and Ludwig sighed. "I'll be back in a few minutes, then." The group took this as an opportunity to rest, if only for a few moments.

Ludwig returned not even five minutes later with six large coffees and sighed, seeing everyone fast asleep. He slammed the coffees down on the table, causing the group to awake with a jump.

"AGH!" Cheryl clutched her heart, before murmuring a soft 'sorry' for yelling.

Ludwig rolled his eyes, glaring at the group. "Come _on_ guys - we must do this! For our grades! We are _strong,_ dammit! A little tiredness has never stopped Einstein, has it?"

"I wouldn't know," Morton whined. "I'm too stupid for this."

" _NO!_ " Ludwig growled out, clutching his fists. "We are a strong group, with brains of steel. We can do this - we won't lose to an exam!" He sounded a bit too dramatic for the situation, but hey, it inspired the group. Slowly, they all got back to work.

Meanwhile, the more casual students watched from afar - or, at least, some of them. Mark, Amethyst, Lemmy, Roy and William all sat at a different table, barely glancing at their notes.

Amethyst sighed, pulling out a burger from her backpack, catching the attention of the other students at the table. With no hesitation, she unwrapped it and began to eat it, much to their surprise.

"Uh, Amethyst?" Mark asked her, causing her to perk up. Her mouth, however, was full, so the only response he got verbally was ' _hmfph?_ ' "Yeah, I know you love burgers and all but… it's not even eight in the morning yet. Is that really a healthy breakfast?"

Roy rolled his eyes, "Of course it isn't, but does she care? No."

Amethyst narrowed her eyes, swallowing her current bite and set the burger down on the table. "I _do_ , in fact, care. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. Would I rather eat a granola bar for breakfast over a burger? Hell no!"

Lemmy giggled, "I guess that's a good point."

William sighed, looking away from them. "No, it's really not…" Amethyst, however, ignored him, continuing to eat her burger happily. Something caught William's eye, though - an unlikely pair were huddled together in the corner of the cafeteria. "What the hell…?" He murmured, which got the attention of the other four.

They followed his gaze and saw a strange scene - Wendy and Zip sat alone together, whispering to each other… they were even sitting fairly close. Amethyst nearly choked on her burger when she saw, before spitting out, "Are those two… together?"

Roy cackled, throwing his head back with a wide grin. He let out an ever louder laugh, "Yeah! As if! Look, Wendy might not be drop-dead gorgeous, but she wouldn't settle for a scumbag like Zip…"

Mark scoffed, "Well, it looks like they're getting pretty friendly to me…" After that, the group dropped the subject. Whether Wendy and Zip were, in fact, just friendly or not, they wouldn't know. At least, not yet.

Eventually, as much as some would hate to accept it, the exams were finally about to begin. By 8:20, everyone was in their designated classrooms. The english classroom was full, everyone was in their rightful seats along with Ms. Nastasia at the front, many exams in her hand.

"'K, guys, we've went over this. Your essay will be starting soon - the only thing on your desk right now should be something to write with. Remember, you will be getting a topic that you should have _already planned out_ , 'k?"

Some students rolled their eyes, such as Larry. "She says this, but I feel like I don't know what to expect…" He whispered, and Wolfe - next to him - nodded. He turned to her with a smile, "Either way, good luck Wolfe!"

She grinned back, trying not to show how tired she was. "Yeah, you too!"

Within minutes, the exams were passed out. ' _Alright, let's see how bad this'll be…_ ' Larry thought to himself. He looked over the paper, ' _Scott Fitzgerald's novel,_ The Great Gatsby _, had a very strong thesis. Write at least two pages on what exactly the thesis was, why it was important, and three characters or events that proved this._ '

Larry looked around nervously, blue eyes bouncing off the walls. It's fine, he got this… uh, which novel was 'The Great Gatsby', again? He couldn't remember - he never actually read the novel, just looked up chapter summaries online. That was the one about some schoolboys on an island, right? Or, shoot, was that 'Lord of the Flies'?

He sighed, running a hand through his blue mohawk. This was gonna be one hell of an essay.

Meanwhile, in the math classroom, their exam wasn't any easier for most students. Of course there were a few students that were flying through it, like Gabby, what with her background in sciences and such. However…

William sat in his seat, reading over the questions. He knew most of them, and then… there was trigonometry. He didn't know _why_ , but he really just did not enjoy that unit. And now, he was completely stumped on this portion of the exam. 'A ladder leans against a wall at a height of 8 metres, creating an angle of 40 degrees with the ground. How long is the ladder?'

' _Oh yes, I_ totally _know how to envision a ladder in my mind, and then somehow know how long it is… ugh, what formula do I use for this? Tangent? Cosine? Sine?_ ' He thought to himself, dripping in sarcasm.

At the opposite end of the classroom, Amethyst was struggling with the entire exam. She had no idea how to do at _least_ half of the questions on here… all she could do was try to calculate the mark she would get in her head. If she did this question, and maybe attempted _this_ one… she could totally pass with a 50! ...Probably.

She fiddled with her calculator, violet eyes darting in every direction. She knew she wouldn't be able to pass this exam. And if she couldn't pass the exam… she might fail the class. Sighing, she quickly tucked her black hair behind her ears before looking beside her.

To her right was Gabby - she was smart, but Amethyst knew that Gabby _probably_ wouldn't let her cheat off of her. To her left, however… Francis, the nerdy chameleon. He was probably one of the smartest in the class, and he could apparently be easily bribed…

"Psst." She leaned over and whispered, catching his attention.

"Wha-what…? Psst me?" He whispered back, his glasses already beginning to fog up at the thought of a girl specifically talking to him.

"Yes, psst you!" Amethyst whispered back. "When you're done the exam… before you hand it in… pass it to me, okay?"

"Huh?" Francis tilted his head before frowning. "Hey… why would I do that? I'm not letting you cheat-"

"Shh!" She hushed him quickly. "I'll hang out with you after the exam if you let me copy off of you." Amethyst tried her best at smiling sweetly at him, her purple eyes seeming to twinkle. She heard a light scoff from Gabby, knowing that she disapproved of her copying off of Francis.

Francis sighed, "As schweet as that would be… no." And with that, he turned away from her.

"Shoot."

The hours flew by, and eventually, 10:30 a.m. came around, ending all exams. The bell sounded throughout the school and people scurried out of their classrooms. Most people chose to go home after this, but some decided to stick around in the cafeteria for a little bit.

At one table, along with two extra-large pizzas, sat Larry, Abigail, Ludwig, Wolfe, Cheryl, Iggy, Lindsay, and Roy. They decided to treat themselves to some comfort food after the exam - they had actually invited many more people, but most of them declined, deciding to instead focus on studying for their other exam or going home to relax.

Lindsay sighed, resting her head on Abigail's shoulder. "I'm beyond tired right now - that exam _sucked_ ," She took a quick break to grab a bite of her pizza. "I mean, I was prepared and all for the essay, but I just didn't write down everything I wanted to say."

Roy nodded, resting his head on Abigail's other shoulder - the two sandwiched the poor ginger, but she didn't seem to mind. "Yeah… well, I wasn't prepared at all, so at least you got 'dat over me."

Ludwig tutted in disapproval, "You are all helpless, I found the exam to be fairly easy. I finished my essay within minutes. If you had read the novel, you would have had no problems.", making Lindsay and Roy a bit embarrassed - well, Lindsay was embarrassed, Roy just felt more stupid than usual, which he didn't like.

Larry let out a quick snort, putting his pizza slice down on the table. "Yeah, well, it was fine for me. Even though I was confused at first, I still read the chapter summaries online, so I freakin' nailed it."

This caused Wolfe to arch an eyebrow, teasingly asking, "Oh really? So, what did you think the thesis was?"

"Psh, _easy._ The thesis was all about sin, and how sin will ruin a person if not accepted and overcome!" Larry rolled his blue eyes and almost everyone in the table's faces dropped.

"Th-… that's for The Scarlet Letter, not Gatsby." Cheryl muttered in disbelief, causing Iggy next to her to giggle a bit. "Larry, I think you wrote the essay for the wrong novel."

"Dammit!" He scowled, causing the rest of the table to howl with laughter. His cheeks flushed red, "C'mon guys… damn, I knew something was off. Even at the beginning, I wasn't quite sure what novel was which, so I went with my gut!"

Wolfe pat him on the back, trying to conceal her laughter. "Oh, you poor thing… well, maybe Ms. Nastasia will be nice and just mark the essay format itself?"

"I doubt it…" Larry pouted, before frowning in confusion. "What the hell?" Everyone followed his gaze which fell on none other than Zip and Wendy.

Roy rolled his eyes from under his shades, sitting up in his seat. "It's weird… there's somethin' goin' on between those two, there must be. They were hangin' out this morning too."

Lindsay smirked, looking at the rest of her friends. "As a professional cupid, I think they're in _looove_." She giggled and Abigail gagged.

"Wendy wouldn't go for someone like Zip, no way!"

"Yes way!" Lindsay stared her friend in the eyes. "Abby, I know things. I know when someone is crushing on someone else!"

Abigail fought back the urge to roll her eyes, instead quickly glancing over at Ludwig who kept a stone-cold expression. She sighed, "I don't know Linds, I guess we'll never know what they're talking about."

With that, the topic died down within the group - they wouldn't know what Zip and Wendy were discussing, but _we_ sure could.

Zip was currently leaning against the wall, staring Wendy in the face. The atmosphere was tense, causing Wendy to sigh. "Zip, we can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" He asked, his voice raising in pitch. "All I'm doing is sticking with you to make sure that you don't tell anyone about… you know."

He had told Wendy everything - even though it truthfully wasn't much. He had just told her that yes, he used to attend Mush High, but after becoming famous, he transferred to Koopa Troop Academy for a fresh start. Nobody knew that though, considering he changed not only his appearance but also his name.

Yes, Zip was not his real name. However, he refused to tell Wendy what it truly was. He reserved that secret for those who were really close to him, and the Koopa princess was not.

Wendy rolled her eyes, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "No, you know what it looks like? It looks like we're _dating._ Ew."

Dating. _Dating._ Zip's eyes lit up, and he grinned up at Wendy. "Dating?"

She stared down at him, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, dating. Looks like we are dating. What about it?"

He smirked - this was a brilliant plan. "We should pretend to date." Wendy gagged and he shushed her. "No, no, hear me out. I get to be around you constantly to make sure that you don't blab to anyone, and uh… you could get fame?"

"Fame?" Wendy snorted. "I already have fame, I'm literally the king's daughter - _only_ daughter. Plus," She looked him up and down. "You're not my type."

The blonde frowned, pushing his shades up his nose a bit. "Oh yeah? Well what _is_ your type? Tall, muscular dudes? Abs, maybe a beard? No, beards are gross, you're probably into stubble. But you like manly guys, don't you?"

Wendy shook her head, "Uh, no actually - kind of the opposite." Zip frowned in confusion and the princess sighed, looking away. "That's not the point here. The point is that your idea is stupid and we're not doing it."

Zip sighed, turning away from her. "Fine, whatever. I'll come up with a better plan." With that, he walked away, leaving her all alone.

Well, alone for a few seconds.

"Sooo," A high-pitched voice called out from behind her. "You and Zip?" Wendy spun around and saw Lemmy standing there with a huge grin, Mark right next to him.

She rolled her eyes, "No, me and Zip are not… me and Zip. Just friends - at most."

Mark held a hand out to Lemmy, a slight smirk. "Pay up." Without hesitation, Lemmy placed a five-dollar bill in Mark's palm, causing Wendy to raise her eyebrows in confusion.

"Wha-?"

"We made a bet." Mark answered her. "Lemmy bet that you two were a thing, and I said 'no way in hell'. And of course, I was right." He shot Lemmy a toothy grin and Lemmy giggled.

" _This_ time!" The two walked off, leaving Wendy to her thoughts.

Mark and Lemmy continued walking until they got outside the school, where the two were planning to drive to Lemmy's house and hang out. Mark had, after all, heard about the infamous party in September. He hadn't been attending the school at that time, so he missed out. Naturally, he wanted to see the castle for himself.

He held open the passenger door for Lemmy, who smiled and gave him a quick 'thanks!'. He shut the door behind him and then rushed to the driver's seat.

Once the two were in the car, Mark noticed that Lemmy had a strange look on his face. He frowned, "Lemmy? You okay?"

The small koopa turned his head and his cheeks flushed red. He sighed, and mumbled "I have to ask it sooner or later." Mark tilted his head in confusion as Lemmy stared him down. "Mark, the circus is in town this weekend - would you go with me?"

Normally Lemmy wouldn't hesitate to ask Mark to hang out - he was always so confident! And, normally, Mark loves hanging out with Lemmy; come to think of it, Mark isn't sure he's ever said no to hanging out with his closest friend. "Yeah, of course dude!"

"No, I mean…" Lemmy sighed, running a hand through his multi coloured mohawk. "Like, um, like a date."

It didn't take long for Mark's face to go bright red, he could feel it burning up. "Oh." He couldn't manage to say much more - he was shocked.

Lemmy sighed, looking away with a sad smile. "It's okay if you don't feel the same! I just, y'know, had to ask. I don't even know if you like me - I don't even know if you like men!"

Mark let out a snort of laughter before placing his hand on top of Lemmy's, only adding to how nervous as

the two were. "I do, and I'd still be down to go to the circus with you." He gave Lemmy a small smile and Lemmy quickly returned it.

"Oh. Oh! Okay!" The small koopa's face lit up, and he laughed a bit at how nervous he was. "That's awesome!" With that, the two began driving off to go hang out, as per usual.

Snow began to fall more and more heavily throughout the night, the snowflakes seeming to glow in the dark. It may have been due to the magic throughout the kingdom, or simply due to christmas lights set up on various buildings. Either way, it gave students the hope that they would nail the second exam.

Eventually, morning came and students were back right where they were the previous day - stressed, tired, and anxious about how they would do on their exams.

The time was 8:25 a.m., and all of the drama students were gathered in the auditorium. Madame Flurrie was, of course, center stage. The students were seated in front of her, waiting for her word.

"Oh my! I am just so excited to watch your performances - and I am positive that you are all just so eager to perform, hm?" She cried out, clutching various papers in her hands.

Ludwig let out a groan and Lindsay, right next to him, let out a giggle.

Flurrie sighed loudly. "Alright then, I'll be giving out numbers to decide the order of which you will all present!" She floated down from the stage and began handing them out. Afterwards, it was time to get started.

First up was none other than Lindsay, who had memorized the whole script by heart! She loved theatre after all - this was her time to shine.

The short girl spun around, dramatically crying out in a perfect southern accent, "Oh my! I, Flurrie, am finding myself to be truly lost in this wild city life!" While Lindsay was onstage, Flurrie had taken her seat. Ludwig glanced over and noticed her silently mouthing along, tears welling up in her eyes.

While Lindsay may have done well, there were some others who… hadn't. Morton, for example, had decided to put his own 'spin' on the play. He had dressed up in a cowboy hat and matching boots, putting emphasis on Flurrie's country roots.

"Yeehaw! Boy howdy, here I am, in the big city life!" If Morton were to be honest, his performance was mainly cowboy improv, which Madame Flurrie would have appreciated were it not disrespectful to herself.

She sat in the chair, silently fuming as she watched Morton begin to bring out a lasso. "ENOUGH!" The purple lady got out of her chair, fists clenched. "Well, I do think I have seen just enough of this performance. To your seat, Morton."

He grinned, nearly hopping off of the stage. "Original, right?"

Flurrie smiled, her eyes full of rage. "Oh yes, very. Off-topic, but I feel the need to mention that I am a southern belle, _not_ a hootin' and tootin' cowgirl." She scowled and Morton shrugged it off.

And then there were those who had really not put in much effort at all. Larry stood in the middle of the stage, completely still, as he tried reciting the lines. "I know that if I try, I will be able to land any role on Broadway. Uh…" The blue-haired koopa looked down, trying to remember the next line from the top of his head, before glancing down at the palm of his right hand.

He opened his mouth to begin the next line, but was cut off by a gasp by Flurrie. "Larry Koopa! Are you reading off of your hand? Have you not memorized these lines by heart?!"

The class gazed at him, who stood with wide eyes, like a deer caught in headlights. "Uhhh…" He tried thinking up an excuse, but he wasn't as quick as he used to be.

Flurrie scoffed, waving her hand. "Automatic zero. Next!"

"Dammit!" Larry cried out before pouting and jumping off the stage.

Flurrie looked around, and no one stepped up. "Hm, have we already been through everyone?" She glanced down at her list of students. "Oh my! Has anyone seen Dimentio?"

The class looked around slowly at everyone else that was there, but the jester was not. Flurrie hummed to herself. "He's been absent for a while now, hasn't he?"

Come to think of it, she was right. Nobody had really seen Dimentio for a few weeks now at the very least, maybe a month at most. Just the thought of that had given the others a sinking feeling, but they brushed it off. Dimentio always gave everyone a bad feeling, so surely this didn't mean much.

"Well then!" Flurrie waltzed her way to the stage. "I suppose that this exam is done! Thank you _all_ for taking this class, and may you always remember that life is your stage!" She dramatically waved them all off and they exited the auditorium.

Meanwhile, in the gymnasium, the others were in the middle of their exam. Not the written one - no, Daisy had wanted them to do the written exam during class so she could spice up their final exam.

She had decided on giving them a tournament to see once and for all who would get the top mark in the class. And, to add to the intensity of course, it was a huge dodgeball game. This would make the others rely on their speed, agility, and strategies. 'Get creative', she had told them previously.

And so they did. They got half an hour to warm up, starting the tournament at 9 a.m. sharp. It was currently half an hour into the tournament, and most students were still in.

Francis was the first one to get out, which he was upset about, whining about how it 'totally wasn't fair'. He had sulked all the way out of the gym. The next two to get out were Beldam and Marilyn - Beldam had hid behind Marilyn, but as she gloated, someone hit her right in the face with another ball.

The remaining students had various strategies - Iggy and Cheryl were currently, and much more secretly than Beldam was, using other students as shields. Wendy was running around the gym nonstop, hoping that if she was constantly moving then it'd be more difficult to hit her.

And then there were those who were just upfront and on the attack - specifically, Roy and Zip, who were both currently trying to get each other out. The rivalry between them had faded a slight bit since the beginning of the year, but they were still constantly one-upping each other.

Truthfully, Zip had the upper hand in this battle. He was smaller, faster, and better at dodging. However, he completely _sucked_ at throwing. The two were in a constant battle - Roy throws a ball and Zip dodges, then Zip throws a ball but misses.

Roy growled, stopping to rest for a moment. "Damn… can't ya just stay still for two seconds?!" He yelled over at Zip who smirked widely.

"I could, but I won't!" The short toad laughed loudly and attempted to hit Roy - of course, he missed. The two both had a bad feeling that unless one caved in, they would be at it for the entire tournament.

And so they were. The number of students remaining slowly dwindled down until it was finally only Zip and Roy. The two were angrier than ever, sweat rolling down both of their bodies.

The only other people left in the gym were Coach Daisy and Abigail. Daisy was shouting words of encouragement in hopes that it'd help, while Abigail just sighed next to her. "It's no use, coach. They're hopeless." Abigail would have left by now if it weren't for the fact that her and Roy were planning on hanging out that afternoon.

Daisy sighed, writing some notes on her clipboard before whistling. This caught the two boy's attentions, and she frowned. "Okay you two, times up."

"Times up?" Roy asked in confusion. "We're goin' until there's only one winner, right?"

Daisy shook her head, a small frown on her lips. "We _were_ , but you two are taking forever, so I'm just ending it here. You both get 100 percent though."

"But, I wanted to win!" Zip whined, and Roy nodded.

"Yeah, c'mon coach, just give us five more minutes an' I could totally pummel this guy!" Roy cried out, and Daisy sighed before turning to Abigail.

"Is he always like this, even outside of class?" She asked the teen, referring to Roy's competitiveness.

Abigail dryly laughed, while nodding. "Oh yeah."

Daisy sighed and placed a hand on Abigail's shoulder, "I am so sorry sweetie."

The younger girl shrugged before giving a small smile. "Eh, it's fine, I like him all the same, despite how annoying he is." They looked back over at the guys who were currently staring each other down. "Roy!" Abigail called him and he quickly broke the stare with Zip before walking over to her.

"You proud of me?" He joked with a wide grin and Abigail rolled her eyes playfully.

"Yeah sure, I guess, but you know it's only an exam right? You didn't have to try _that_ hard."

"Well excuse me for wantin' to impress my girl!"

Daisy watched the two leave the gym, then followed by Zip. She sighed, brushing off her athletic-wear. Truth be told, she was a bit bummed to have her class be done and over with. She had bonded with these kids!

With a loud sigh, she began to clean up the various dodgeballs. Daisy began to hum a little tune to herself to fill the silence, until she heard a soft chuckle.

The coach turned around quickly only to see nothing - well, except for a slight wave in the air. It was hard to describe it - it looked similar to ripples in water, except, it was in air. No one was to be seen. "Hello?" She called out just to be sure, but there was no reply. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh well, probably just my imagination…"

And with that, the first semester in Koopa Troop Academy had come to a close. So much had happened, and they were only halfway through the year. What will an entirely new schedule bring to these kids, and how will they handle it? Only time could tell.


End file.
